The UK was hit with its worst riots in 13 years, a month ago, led by white far-right agitators belonging to the working class (Afp, 2024). The agitation was fueled by anti-immigration, anti-muslim sentiments consistently induced by the far-right of the U.K. in the past decade (Ali, 2024).
The protest and riots sprung up on 30th July in the Southport city of the U.K., where skirmishes between the protesters and the police took place and a mosque was damaged by the rioters. Soon the protest assumed a nationwide character (Badshah, 2024). The riots took place as an immediate response to misinformation about the identity of a juvenile murderer who murdered 3 little girls in the city of Southport at a Taylor Swift themed dance event. The misinformation spread by right-wing organizations on social media suggested that the juvenile murderer belonged to the Muslim community and is an immigrant who recently arrived on boat.
As a consequence of these events, on August 1st, Liverpool Crown Court revealed the identity of the juvenile so as to avoid further hostilities in the country (Badshah, 2024). The murderer, Axel Rudakubana is a 17 year old U.K. citizen born to immigrant Rwandan parents and is nowhere related to Islam. The misinformation and violence encouraged by supporters of a right-wing organisation English Defence League, an anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago, and organisations linked to it, as told by the police (Badshah, 2024). The protests and violence continued until 5th August and also met with clashes with counter protesters. Rioters attacked the police with bottles, bricks, and flares, consequently causing injury to many officers (Afp, 2024). They robbed and set fire to shops, while chanting anti-Islamic slurs and clashed with counter-protesters (Afp, 2024).
Agitators have targeted mosques in Southport and Sunderland in northeastern England, prompting hundreds of Islamic centers to heighten security due to concerns for the safety of worshippers. Far-right social media channels have promoted these rallies under the slogan "Enough is enough." Protesters were seen waving English and British flags while chanting slogans such as "Stop the boats," referencing irregular migrants traveling to Britain from France (Afp, 2024).
In response, anti-fascist demonstrators organized counter-rallies in various cities, including Leeds, where they chanted, "Nazi scum off our streets," while far-right protesters countered with, "You're not English anymore." (Afp, 2024) Around 90 people were arrested as skirmishes erupted at far-right rallies in multiple locations, including Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Blackpool, Hull, and Belfast in Northern Ireland (Afp, 2024). In this article, we will analyze the various factors responsible for the riots, such as the role of social media influencers, far-right groups, the anti-immigrant-islamophobic narrative, and desindustrialisation.
Role of Misinformation in escalating riots
In 2020, it was reported that over 18000 accounts were spreading misinformation on X (Vaish, 2022). While being portrayed as a platform for free speech and expression, X rather has become a hub of fake news, and various stakeholders like Elon Musk are involved in the dispersion and escalation of fake news over the internet (Vaish, 2022). Not just X, but Meta and Google are also responsible for the rise of fake news but they don’t hold accountability (Vaish, 2022). The argument provided by them mostly is about the amplification of behavioral patterns (Vaish, 2022) through algorithms that do not intend to spread fake news. However, these algorithms keep you in a closed space, providing you with only the content you like to consume and cleaning your feed of any other things that can reduce engagement. Being exposed to only a type of content leads to the creation of a world which is detached from reality, which has rather blocked your surroundings and for you to perceive things rationally. The ramifications of fake news can be seen in the U.K. riots wherein not within hours of the incident taking place, fake news was generated to incite violence against immigrants (Tharoor, 2024). This raises concerns over cyber propaganda that lead to violent consequences, making it a security issue.
Anti-Immigration Agenda of Britain (Migration as Crisis)
Far-right politicians like Theresa May, Priti Patel, Suella Braverman, and Rishi Sunak have strengthened the anti-immigration sentiment among the citizens through propaganda, laws and policies against immigrants (Ali, 2024). Theresa May, in 2012, served as a Conservative Home Secretary and came up with a hostile environment policy against immigrants (Ali, 2024). The conservatives representing Indian and African diaspora in the U.K. have prioritized curbing immigration and deportation of immigrants (Myambo M.T., 2023).
In 2020, Priti Patel, former Home Secretary, introduced a Nationality and Borders bill popularly known as the Anti-Refugee Bill which advocated for the criminalisation of asylum-seekers who entered the U.K. irregularly and to send them to off-shore prison-like facilities (Freedom from Torture, 2024). It further made family reunion difficult (Freedom from Torture, 2024). Another former Home Secretary , Suella Braverman, went a step further as she committed to deporting anyone who doesn’t enter through government sanctioned routes (Goodfellow, 2022). She also stated that anyone who passed through a safe country before arriving in the uk shall also be deported (Goodfellow, 2022). Braverman further advocated only for the inclusion of such immigrants who are highly skilled and contribute to the growth of the U.K.'s economy (Goodfellow, 2022).
In October, the UK government enacted the Illegal Migration Act 2023, aiming to detain or permanently deport small-boat migrants to their country of origin or a third nation (Sharma, 2023) which can be reflected in the ‘stop-the-boats’ calls by demonstrators. The narrativization of migration as a crisis by the right-wing in the U.K. over the years has contributed significantly to the current situation.
Deindustrialisation and Unemployment
Over the years, the service sector has become more profitable than the manufacturing sector, leading to more investments in the service sector. By investing in manufacturing the investors will have a risk rate of return 20% less than in the service sector. In a market economy like the U.K., investors obviously invest in sectors with higher profitability rate. Consequently, the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the U.K.’s GDP has drastically declined. It has the lowest contribution to industrial output among G7 countries. Deindustrialisation leads to a higher unemployment rate, outmigration, an increase in imports, and poverty. The working class of the U.K. are struggling under these structural problems, but their frustration is being channeled against immigrants as a result of the inflow of anti-immigrant, anti-muslim propaganda induced by the right-wing of the U.K. This trend has been noticed throughout Europe. (Mortimer-Lee & Mao, n.d.)
Conclusion
Studies suggest that migrants today make up only a small minority of the global population, a stark contrast to the "age of migration" in the previous century when over 10 percent of the world's population were migrants (Cantat, Pécoud, & Thiollet, 2023). However, it's important to note that while the percentage is lower now, the actual number of migrants is likely higher, reflecting the growth in the global population. Discussed below are some significant factors that challenge the Malthusian theory of population.
Unfortunately, the tendency to blame immigration for government shortcomings isn't limited to the U.K., it's a widespread tactic used by right-wing groups across Europe. This blame-shifting often hides deeper issues like changing geopolitics, shifts in the market economy, and underlying racism, all of which are masked by arguments about "pressure on resources."
A striking example of how this plays out is the European Union's response to the influx of Ukrainian refugees. By activating Council Directive 2001/55/EC, the E.U. allowed all Ukrainians to cross its borders and receive temporary protection without the need to file for asylum. This approach was a way to avoid a political crisis, contrasting sharply with the reaction to the much smaller number of Syrian asylum seekers in 2015, which was framed as a migration crisis (Cantat, Pécoud, & Thiollet, 2023).
Even though the U.K. has taken a stricter stance on immigration, it has still introduced schemes to ease the asylum seeking process and visa extension for Ukrainian refugees (“Ukraine Extension Scheme,” 2024). On the other hand, immigrants arriving through the Mediterranean are far from expecting such efforts from the U.K. government.
Migration, as crises, also emerges as the result of the state's management of migration and approach towards migration (Cantat, Pécoud, & Thiollet, 2023). Stringent policies perpetuate irregular migration, create tension in the destination state, among both the citizens and immigrants, and lead to the creation of hostile conditions that result in violence hampering law and order of the state (Cantat, Pécoud, & Thiollet, 2023). The ongoing riots are a consequence of the narrativization of migration as a crisis.
Sources
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8. Freedom From Torture (2024, February 9). Everything you need to know about Priti Patel’s Anti-Refugee Bill. Freedom From Torture. https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-priti-patels-anti-refugee-bill
9. Goodfellow, M. (2022, October 5). Think Priti Patel was bad? Suella Braverman wants to make claiming asylum near-impossible. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/05/priti-patel-suella-braverman-claiming-asylum-home-secretary
10. Sharma, K. (2023, December 20). UK’s Rwanda deportation plan. Project Statecraft. https://www.projectstatecraft.org/post/uk-s-rwanda-deportation-plan
11. Tharoor, I. T. (2024, August 9). Britain’s riots put spotlight on far-right misinformation. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/09/britain-riots-misinformation-elon-musk/
12. Ukraine Extension Scheme. (2024). In Published for Home Office Staff (pp. 1–18). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6645db52f34f9b5a56adc911/Ukraine+Extension+Scheme.pdf
13. Vaish, T. N. (2022, February 2). Social media algorithms and its impact on fake news. One Nought One. https://www.onenought.one/post/fake-news-and-social-media-algorithms
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